U.S. Bombing of Amiriyah Shelter Kills 408 Civilians (Retrospective)

[David__77]

Allied warplanes, in a pinpoint bombing that sent shock waves far beyond Iraq, destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad yesterday, and officials said 500 civilians were killed. The United States called it a military command center, not a bomb shelter.

...

"We don't know why civilians were at that location," said Marlin Fitzwater, President Bush's spokesperson.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xQZKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gB4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1986,1529337



An Iraqi man holds a peace offering at the Al-Amiriya bomb shelter in Baghdad, where by Iraqi count 408 civilians died after a U.S. bomb and missile destroyed it in 1991. Photo: Paul Kitagaki Jr./Seattle Post-Intelligencer

THIS is what happens when the US launches "pinpoint bombings" abroad.

[Gravitycollapse]

1. Imagine the split second after the bunker buster smashes through the reinforced concrete...

Next to a gathering of innocent civilians, that little moment before the warhead explodes. In a blink of an eye, the warhead ignites, and the overpressure ruptures the internal organs of men, women and children. Shattering them to pieces. What isn't compressed into oblivion is charred into nothingness.

That warped rebar is a story of what happens when immense force meets an malleable object. But, like overstretched bubble gum, everything has a breaking point. That of the human body is much, much less than what has survived.

[David__77]

2. Terrifying.

What is repulsive is that this incident didn't even dent the "rah rah rah" of the public in this country at that time. That's what's outrageous about the US pretending to be human rights cop. It's all power politics in reality.

[David__77]

4. You think that the US was not responsible for this incident?

It was clearly marked as a civilian shelter publicly. The US intelligence was just wrong.

I mean, if people are not safe in a civilian shelter, where should they go?

[jtuck004]

9. Not disagreeing. But the whole freakin' "war" was wrong... n/t

[truebluegreen]

13. If our fearless leaders hadn't wanted that war,

there wouldn't have been one.

Who is to blame, if not the US?

[ocpagu]

15. "But the US is not entirely to blame"...

How come?

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. "Could have made better choices" -- the conservative platitude of the year.

[David__77]

14. I don't think the US would have bombed it if they knew what was in it.

I'd never mean to imply that.

But that's the problem with military action and trying to take out "command and control" infrastructure - even with excellent intelligence tools and methods, these sorts of things can happen, and should be accounted for in any cost/benefit analysis when making decisions about whether or not to initiate a military action.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. When 'sometimes they just get it wrong' means 'sometimes they kill hundreds of innocent people'

that gives a whole new meaning to glossing over the details. Why not just say 'whoopsi doodles! lots of corpses, my bad!' and post some of the 'rofl' emoticons.

[kelliekat44]

6. Why do people keep posting old articles as though they were current events? nt

[David__77]

7. I said "retrospective" in the title.

I did so precisely because I wanted the reader to realize this is not a current event... But I do think that it certainly is something to consider when looking at what lies before us.

[truedelphi]

25. I too think it is good you posted it.

And one more salient point: In this case, Russia is not for us going against Syria. Period. Their naval defenders are now in the region, armed with missiles to take out our ships.

Some mistake gets made, and we could be looking at WWIII.

[eridani]

8. Well, thank heavens no chemical weapons were involved

[malaise]

12. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Of course those people were merely collateral damage.

[dickensknitter]

16. Thank you...

I'm glad you posted this. I had forgotten this incident.

Like Gore Vidal said... "united states of amnesia". I'm a citizen I guess.
History is important; the present is surrounded by it and interwoven with it.
How can we not repeat 'mistakes' if we don't remember them, acknowledge them, and try to understand all that went into making them.
This was a horrific 'mistake', but only part of a much larger and more horrific 'mistake'. Some 'mistakes' are crimes.

[Cryptoad]

17. Maybe we should

let our Enemies Free Range?

geeez!

[Bluenorthwest]

19. So those are the choices you see 'free range enemies' or 'mass murder of civilians'?

Limited thinking to be kind about it. Very, very limited.

[indepat]

20. When one bombs military command centers, some collateral damage sometimes sadly occurs.

Everyone can plainly see this was a military command center, not a shelter.